The Index Podcast

What if the biggest unlock in crypto isn't moving money faster — it's not having to move it at all? Ethan Buchman, co-founder of Cosmos, CEO of Informal Systems, and founder of Cycles, sits down with Alex Kehaya to explain why 16th-century bankers may have understood finance better than we do today — and how he's bringing their playbook on-chain.From medieval merchant credit networks to a decentralized clearing protocol built for modern crypto market makers, this conversation goes deep into the history of money, why platforms are "dead" in this cycle, and what real product-market fit looks like in 2026.In this episode:🏛️ A crash course in medieval banking — how Renaissance-era bankers cleared massive trade volumes using almost no money at all⚖️ What "balancing the trade graph" means and why it's the missing piece of modern crypto finance🔗 How Cycles nets out debts on-chain, automatically, without moving funds between parties🏦 Why Cycles is migrating from Cosmos/Neutron to Arc (Circle's new chain) and what that partnership means💸 Cycles' real-world use case: crypto market makers, OTC desks, and liquidity providers settling millions daily with zero clearinghouse📉 Ethan's honest take on the current market, the "infrastructure hangover" in crypto, and why builders need to focus on real users now🚀 Cycles Pay is live in the App Store today — private, on-chain payments and invoicing🔗 Links mentioned:Cycles: https://cycles.money/Cycles on X: https://x.com/cyclesmoneyEthan Buchman on X: https://x.com/buchmansterEthan Buchman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethan-buchman-10b34944/The Index Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@theindexpodcastShow LinksThe Index X ChannelYouTube

He almost got scammed by a fake "producer" minutes before this interview even started. Then he told us why he wakes up at 5am hearing phantom AI music. Matt Van Horn, Lyft co-founder and now Founder & CEO of Lyft, has built an army of coding agents that ship dozens of open source PRs a day, and on this episode of The Index he breaks down exactly how.What we cover:🕵️ The wild near-scam that almost derailed this episode, plus the one phrase that reliably outs North Korean hackers on a call 🤖 "AI psychosis": why Matt wakes up in the middle of the night just to check if his agents succeeded overnight ⛷️ How he built the viral "Last 30 Days" skill in a single 8 hour session, on a ski mountain, using Claude Code 📈 Going from zero coding background to a top 10 human contributor on major open source repos 🚫 Getting banned from open source projects for shipping too many AI generated PRs 🧠 "Compound engineering," and why Matt calls it the best designed AI skill he's ever seen 🔮 His take on open vs. closed models, and why every company needs to think about owning its own intelligence stack 🥷 The private, self-learning system behind his autonomous open source engine (the one he refuses to release)The Index is part of the builder ecosystem spanning Solana, Web3, and AI, spotlighting the founders shaping what's next. If you care about where crypto, AI agents, and startups collide, this is your show.Connect with Matt Van Horn: X: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattvanhorn/Lyft: Website: https://www.lyft.com/ X: https://x.com/Lyft The Index Podcast: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theindexpodcastShow LinksThe Index X ChannelYouTube

Stablecoins on Solana just hit $15B, and Eco Co-Founder & CEO Ryne Saxe says that number is going to look laughably small in five years. On this episode of The Index Podcast, Ryne breaks down why Solana pulled ahead in the stablecoin race, why Visa and Mastercard are quietly rebuilding their entire plumbing around digital dollars, and how Eco is building the routing layer that ties every chain and every stablecoin together.If you've ever had USDC, USDT, USDG, and a few more scattered across five wallets and had no idea how to move them, this one's for you.In this episode:⚡ Why Solana is winning the stablecoin race: chain performance, a laser-focused ecosystem strategy, and the RWA/tokenization wave building on top of it📈 Ryne's bold call: Solana's on-chain stablecoin supply could 10x, maybe 100x, over the next 3-5 years💳 Why Visa and Mastercard adopting stablecoin settlement is a bigger signal than most people realize🔧 Inside Eco: how stablecoin routing and orchestration solves the "which wallet, which chain, which coin" mess for good🎯 The founder story: from a consumer stablecoin banking app, through the post-FTX regulatory squeeze, to building infrastructure that scales🤝 Ryne calls his shot: why a platform like Fireblocks is a perfect next partner for Eco🔮 Eco's 12-month goal: becoming the stablecoin layer you route through without even thinking about itMore from The Index Podcast: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theindexpodcastFollow Ryne Saxe: X (Twitter): https://x.com/rynesaxe LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rtsaxe/Follow Eco: Website: https://eco.com/ X (Twitter): https://x.com/eco Unleash the Stables: https://www.unleashthestables.com/Show LinksThe Index X ChannelYouTube

He bought her sick cat's medicine with USDT because no bank or pharmacy would touch it. That same "get it done, on-chain" energy is now powering Rosentica, an original multimedia IP turning old, retired trading cards into a full battle economy on Solana. In this episode, Natsuki, Founder & Executive Producer of Rosentica, breaks down how their game One Arena pulled in $3.3M in volume and $1.8M in revenue in just six weeks by turning pack ripping itself into the game.🎮 What we cover:🃏 How One Arena turns "ripping packs" into a real PvP game: penalty shootouts, battle royales, and 1v1 duels 💥 Giving retired, "dead" trading cards a second life as playable, tokenized RWAs 💰 2% cashback on every gacha pull via Arena Silver, arguably the best EV on the market right now 📈 The numbers behind 6 weeks of One Arena: $3.3M in volume, $1.8M in revenue 🌍 Building Rosentica from scratch: manga, music, visual novels, and games as one connected universe ✍️ Getting published on Shonen Jump next to One Piece, Naruto, and Dragon Ball ⚡ Why Solana (and only Solana) made sense: Colosseum, Superteam, and an ecosystem that actually shows up for builders 🐱 The full story of how a sick cat led Natsuki straight into crypto 🚀 Rosentica's 2 to 3 year vision: becoming the Genshin Impact of trading card games 🔮 Why RWAs and on-chain collectibles are enjoyment first, not just speculation🔗 Links: Watch more episodes of The Index: https://www.youtube.com/@theindexpodcast Rosentica website: https://rosentica.jp/ Rosentica on X: https://x.com/Rosentica Natsuki on X: https://x.com/TabinekoKIKI All Rosentica content (manga, music, visual novels): https://bio.to/rosenticaShow LinksThe Index X ChannelYouTube

Brazil banned crypto players from moving big money, so this founder got a bank license instead. Now Trace Finance processes over $10B in cross-border volume and powers the top 4 global payment companies in Latin America.On this episode of The Index Podcast, Bernardo Brites, Co-Founder & CEO of Trace Finance, breaks down how stablecoins plus real bank infrastructure (not stablecoins alone) are quietly becoming the backbone of global money movement, and why the US dollar's dominance might depend on it.🎯 What we cover:💰 Trace Finance's $32M Series A led by CoinFund, with Coinbase Ventures, Haun Ventures and Chainlink in the mix, and what it signals about institutional conviction in stablecoin infrastructure🏦 Why "stablecoins alone don't solve cross-border payments" and what regulated bank rails add that pure crypto rails can't🇧🇷 How Brazil's PIX system works, why it's free and instant 24/7, and why it still stops dead at the border📜 Brazil's new rule classifying cross-border virtual asset flows as FX operations, and why that's a massive tailwind for licensed players like Trace🇺🇸 The GENIUS Act, the CLARITY Act, and Bernardo's thesis that USD stablecoins are the reason the dollar's global dominance isn't fading🌎 Why Brazil was "brutality mode" for building payment rails, and why the US, Hong Kong and Singapore are next📉 The biggest fumble: building a Silicon Valley Bank competitor weeks before SVB actually collapsed🔮 Where Trace Finance is headed in the next 2 years, and why enterprises like Amazon and global PSPs are choosing bank-grade stablecoin infrastructure over building it themselves🔗 Links: The Index Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@theindexpodcast Trace Finance website: https://tracefinance.com/ Trace Finance on X: https://x.com/tracefinance Trace Finance on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/tracefinance/ Bernardo Brites on X: https://x.com/bebrites Bernardo Brites on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bebrites/Show LinksThe Index X ChannelYouTube

She turned "everyone hates spreadsheets" into a 320,000-user, 150-country AI company, without taking a single dollar of outside funding. Agnese Jaunošāne, COO & Co-Founder of Ajelix, sits down to break down why she and her co-founder said no to VC money, bet big on open-source AI, and are now building their own hardware to own their entire intelligence stack. If you care about who actually controls AI, and why that question matters as much as any Web3 debate, this one's for you.What we get into:🚀 How Ajelix went viral before ChatGPT even launched, and built a 320K-user business from Latvia with zero outside capital🔓 Why open-source AI models are becoming a matter of data sovereignty, not just cost, especially for enterprises and governments in the EU🖥️ The real reason Ajelix invested in their own GPU hardware instead of renting compute forever💣 Is the "AI bubble" about to pop? Where the real risk actually sits (hint: it's not the apps)👻 Shadow AI: why ~79% of enterprise employees are already using AI your company can't see or audit🛡️ Building guardrails, audit trails, and permissions so AI agents can't quietly delete your production data🌍 What's next for Ajelix: model training, enterprise infrastructure, and the fight for European tech sovereignty🔗 Links: Ajelix website: https://ajelix.com/ Ajelix on X: https://x.com/Ajelix_AI Agnese on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/agnese-ajelix/ The Index Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theindexpodcastShow LinksThe Index X ChannelYouTube

Silver is the one commodity everyone forgot to tokenize. Mark Tormey, founder of Dominion, is fixing that: real, vaulted, audited silver, one token per ounce, live on Solana and built to plug straight into DeFi. This episode is a masterclass in what it actually takes to bring a physical asset on-chain without cutting corners on trust.What we cover🥈 What Dominion actually is: one token = one ounce of real silver, tracking spot price and fully DeFi composable on Solana🏦 Custody and proof of reserves: how NDV vaults, insures, and audits every bar in Fort Worth, Texas, with daily attestations and monthly physical audits📦 How physical redemption works: KYC/KYB, minimum redemption sizes, and shipping real silver to your door🔒 Why Dominion is over-collateralized, and how that math actually works🚀 Go-to-market: a 4x oversubscribed whitelist, lending and borrowing demand, and a covered call yield strategy in the works🕵️ The uncomfortable truth about RWA transparency: why some "proof of reserves" are just a jeweler's letter, and how Dominion is trying to set a higher bar🏆 Who's actually winning in RWAs right now (shoutout Backpack Securities and Paxos) and what Dominion can learn from them🌐 Why Solana, and it's not just about speed and fees: the community, the institutional push, and House of Sol in the UK💼 The team behind Dominion: 30 years of UK banking expertise, real mining and vault operators, and how Dominion is funding growth without a VC round (yet)Links🎙️ The Index Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theindexpodcast 🌐 Dominion website: https://dominionsilver.com/ 🐦 Dominion on X: https://x.com/Dominion_Market 🐦 Mark Tormey on X: https://x.com/scotsmancrypto 💼 Mark Tormey on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-tormey-19800395/Show LinksThe Index X ChannelYouTube

Prediction markets called the 2024 election before the media did. Now Nass Diba, ex-CPO of Rarible and alum of Aave and Dharma, is betting that permissionless, AI-powered prediction markets on Solana are the next big media format. On this episode of The Index Podcast, we get into why Worm just raised $4.5M, why leverage belongs in prediction markets, and how half a million users learned to trade with zero risk through the Worm Cup.What we cover:Why prediction markets are the "next era of media," and why the timing (AI plus info chaos) makes this the moment Why Solana and stablecoins are the only real infrastructure for fast, low-fee, signal-over-noise prediction markets The "invisible hand" approach to curation, letting liquidity decide which markets matter instead of an algorithm Why Worm built a 3-person design team from day one, bigger than most crypto startups, to make prediction markets feel like Instagram instead of a betting slip Leverage in prediction markets, and Nass's actual number for where it stops helping price discovery and starts becoming pure gambling The 3 ways Worm uses AI: market creation, automated resolution, and AI-driven market making Trustless resolution for untrustable events, and why letting market creators resolve their own markets works better than you'd think Inside the Worm Cup: how a free, points-based World Cup prediction game onboarded 500K+ users in 5 weeks Competing with Polymarket and Kalshi's massive war chests without spending a dollar on marketing How Worm is deploying its $4.5M pre-seed and what's next over the following 12 monthsGuest: Nass Diba, Founder & CEO of Worm Worm: https://worm.wtf/ Worm on X: https://x.com/wormwtf Nass on X: https://x.com/NassDibaShow LinksThe Index X ChannelYouTube

Sports cards just found their liquidity engine and it's built on Solana. This week on The Index, Alex sits down with Hadi, founder of Gacha Sports, the platform letting fans rip digital packs and pull real, graded sports cards live on-chain. From a childhood card-shop addiction to a fully bootstrapped platform built in 13 days, this is the RWA story crypto Twitter hasn't caught onto yet.In this episode:🃏 Why sports cards are the OG real-world asset and why Hadi bets they outgrow Pokémon 🎰 What a "gacha machine" actually is, and why ripping packs is more addictive than you'd think 💰 The 90% instant buyback model that crushes eBay's brutal fees 🏗️ Building Gacha Sports from idea to launch in just 13 days, fully bootstrapped, revenue from day one 🤝 The Collector Crypt partnership — how custody, vaulting, and trust work behind every pull 📈 Why Solana sought THEM out, and what that says about where RWAs are headed 🏦 What's next: a peer-to-peer marketplace and a first-of-its-kind card lending platform ⚽ How the World Cup and player narratives move card prices in real time 🚀 Hadi's thesis: a $15B market that could hit $100B+ as liquidity comes on-chain🔗 Links The Index Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@theindexpodcast Gacha Sports (website): https://www.gachasports.com/ Gacha Sports on X: https://x.com/gachasports Show LinksThe Index X ChannelYouTube

Most of the world cannot buy a single share of Nvidia. Brian Huang, co-founder and CEO of Glider, returns to The Index to explain how tokenized stocks change that, and why capital is quietly rotating out of crypto and into equities.Glider is a non-custodial platform for managing wealth on-chain. Brian breaks down the messy new landscape of on-chain stocks, who actually has the best execution, and whether AI can manage your money better than a human advisor.Links: Glider: https://glider.fi/ Glider on X: https://x.com/glider__ Brian Huang on X: https://x.com/BrianInCrypto Brian Huang on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-h-279a9ba1/ Show LinksThe Index X ChannelYouTube

Ever tried explaining to your private banker why your money is spread across three countries, two exchanges, and a crypto wallet? Shimon Newman, former Director of Research at Squads and now Founder & CEO of Moto, is building the card that makes that whole headache disappear. This one's for globally mobile customers who are tired of slow settlement times, FX fees, and banks that only pay attention once you've already made it.In this episode of The Index Podcast, Shimon breaks down why he left one of crypto's best companies to build a "secured credit card" that actually behaves like one, how Moto turns stablecoin deposits into real yield-funded cashback, and why he's betting the next $124 trillion wealth transfer won't go to Amex or JPMorgan.What we cover:🏍️ The Genesis story: why Shimon left Squads to build Moto, and the "$10 vs $10M" customer support insight that sparked the idea💳 Real credit vs. fake crypto cards: why most "crypto credit cards" are functionally debit cards, and how Moto's actually different🔁 The economic engine: how Moto borrows from credit facilities, earns interest on deposits, and funnels it straight into cashback🌐 Killing the private banking model: why global wealth no longer fits in one country, one bank, or one relationship⚡ Stablecoins, DeFi & on-chain infrastructure as invisible plumbing: how it powers Moto without ever feeling "crypto" to the end user✈️ The perks: Visa Infinite benefits, airport lounges, near-instant access to dedicated human support, and an invite-only waitlist by design🔮 The 5-year vision: Moto as the "Soho House of finance" and a real challenger to Amex and JPMorgan for the next generation of wealthLinks: 🔗 The Index Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@theindexpodcast 🔗 Moto: https://www.moto-card.com/ 🔗 Moto on X: https://x.com/usemotocard 🔗 Shimon Newman on X: https://x.com/ShimonNewman 🔗 Shimon Newman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shimon-newman-671928153Show LinksThe Index X ChannelYouTube

Domains are the most entrenched, least liquid asset class on the internet, and it's about to change forever. Inder Singh, VP of Product & Tech at D3 (the team behind Doma Protocol), joins The Index Podcast to break down how a $360B+ industry still run like it's 1999 is finally getting an on-chain upgrade, built natively on Solana.From spot-trading domains like stocks, to fractional ownership of premium names, to AI agents that manage your domain on autopilot, this episode is your crash course in the next big RWA narrative.🔑 What we cover: 🌐 Why domains are a $360B (and growing) asset class most people have never heard of 💸 How legacy domain sales work today, and why 25% fees and slow settlement are about to disappear ⚡ Bringing Solana Record Service (SNS) on-chain for instant, NFT-based domain settlement 🧩 Fractionalizing premium domains (like software.ai) so anyone can own a piece 📦 DABs (Domain Asset Vehicles), tokenized baskets of thousands of domains, launching Q3 💰 How token holders earn real cash flow when domains in a basket sell 🤖 Why AI agents need domain-based identity, and what that means for the future of the internet 🏆 Why Solana is the only chain built for this kind of institutional-grade RWA liquidity 📈 The case for domains as a diversification play alongside stocks, real estate, and other RWAs🔗 Links: 🎙️ The Index Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@theindexpodcast 👤 Inder Singh — LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/inderpreetsingh/ 🐦 Inder Singh — X: https://x.com/InderpreetSingh 🏢 D3: https://d3.com/ 🌐 Doma Protocol: https://doma.xyz/Show LinksThe Index X ChannelYouTube

Alex Kehaya sits down with Avery Ching, co-founder and CEO of Aptos Labs and former lead engineer on Meta's Libra project, for a wide-ranging conversation on what happens when AI absorbs all of our data, and who ends up owning the intelligence that comes out of it. From Shelby's plan to put your data on encrypted, decentralized rails to Decibel's on-chain trading engine, this episode digs into where crypto and AI actually intersect, and why Avery thinks we have less time than we realize to get it right.In this episode:🧠 Open Intelligence: Avery makes the case that access to AI should be a human right, and warns that a handful of gated, closed models could create a deeply unequal world within just a few years.🔐 Data Ownership: that concern leads straight into Shelby, Aptos Labs' answer to the problem: a decentralized, quantum-resistant storage layer built so your data can power training and inference without ever being exposed, giving individuals and enterprises real control over their own intelligence stack.🏢 Real-World Use Cases: Avery walks through who's actually testing Shelby today, from data-labeling companies like Scale AI to ad-transparency platforms and next-gen prediction markets built on richer, on-chain datasets.⚡ Enterprise-Grade Decentralization: the conversation turns to how Aptos hit sub-second P99 latency, and why that reliability is what lets Shelby promise hyperscaler-level performance without the egress fees.💱 Decibel & Agentic Trading: Avery breaks down Decibel, Aptos' fully on-chain exchange doing 25ms block times and $4B+ in volume, and why he thinks agentic trading (not just agentic payments) is the next frontier.📉 AI Bubble Talk: Alex and Avery get candid about whether crypto has decoupled from traditional markets, and whether AI is repeating the dot-com cycle at an even bigger scale.🔮 AI vs. Crypto: a frank take on which technology actually matters more right now, and why Avery believes the two need each other to keep intelligence open and ownership fair.🔗 Links 📺 More from The Index Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@theindexpodcast 👤 Avery Ching on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/averyching/ 🌐 Aptos Labs: https://aptoslabs.com/Show LinksThe Index X ChannelYouTube

Most crypto investors are chasing a lottery ticket. Jake Claver is building the system that keeps you from losing it all when you finally win.Jake Claver is the CEO and Principal of Digital Ascension Group. a firm helping high-net-worth individuals and institutions navigate wealth, sovereignty, and the seismic shift happening in global finance. With a community of 17,000+ members and a mission to help 1 million people reach financial freedom, Jake brings a rare mix of street-level hustle and institutional-grade thinking to every conversation.In this episode, Jake and Alex go deep on:💰 Why most crypto investors aren't ready for real wealth  and the mindset shift from "my money" to "my family's money" 🏦 What a Digital Family Office actually looks like  governance, ethics, multi-generational wealth planning, and how it applies to crypto holders 🤖 AI agents inside wealth management  how DAG is building super-agents across legal, tax, insurance, and estate planning verticals 🔗 On-chain family governance  zero-knowledge proof voting, investment committee guardrails, and blockchain-based transparency ⚠️ CBDCs, UBI & the coming technocracy  a frank conversation on where the macro financial system is actually heading 📉 The deflationary collapse thesis  why AI + blockchain could trigger it, and how central banks may respond with digital money 🧠 Open-source AI vs. frontier labs  why the absence of a viable open-source alternative to GPT-4 / Opus is a genuine civilizational risk 🚀 Building a personal brand & community in the AI era, Jake's framework for starting from zero in 2025: health, finance, or relationships ⚡ The SaaS disruption wave, why subscription software is about to get obliterated and what to build instead 📑 Paper Search MCP & the Last 30 Days skill, the AI tools Jake is actually using to stay ahead of the curve🔗 Connect with Jake Claver:🌐 Digital Ascension Group: http://www.digitalfamilyoffice.io📧 Substack (600K+ subs): https://jakeclaver.substack.com/🐦 Twitter/X: https://x.com/beyond_broke📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JakeClaverQFOP📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jakeclaverqfop/💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacobclaver/▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jakeclaver🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jakeclaverqfopShow LinksThe Index X ChannelYouTube

What if every community, your baseball team, your college campus, your favorite creator's fanbase, had its own currency that worked like real money from day one? Ted Livingston, the founder who built Kik into one of the world's largest messaging apps and launched the first token on Solana, is back with his boldest bet yet: Flipcash.In this episode, Ted breaks down why Bitcoin, Kin, and stablecoins each got it partially right and how Flipcash is designed to capture the best of all three. This one is a must-watch for anyone serious about where crypto payments are actually headed.Topics covered:💬 Ted's full backstory — from Blackberry intern to Kik, Kin, Code, and now Flipcash 🪙 What "community money" actually means — and why it's not a meme coin or a stablecoin 📈 How Flipcash's bonding curve works — more stable, more gradual, USD-backed from day one 🔒 Why nobody gets coins for free — the key design decision that avoids Kin's fatal flaw 💧 Reinventing liquidity in crypto — no market makers, no manipulation, just an on-chain reserve ⚡ Why Solana is the only home for Flipcash — and what Alpenglow will unlock next 🏀 Should the Knicks create a Flipcash currency? — Ted's take might surprise you 💸 Spending vs. selling — why this distinction is the whole point of making crypto into real money🔗 Links:📺 The Index Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@theindexpodcast👤 Ted Livingston on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tedlivingston/🐦 Follow Ted on X: @ted_livingston🌐 Flipcash website: https://www.flipcash.com/📱 Download Flipcash: Search "Flipcash" on the App Store or Google PlayShow LinksThe Index X ChannelYouTube

From trading desks at UBS to leading global growth at one of the fastest-growing blockchains in the world — Xen Baynham-Herd's journey through crypto is as wild as the industry itself.In this episode, Alex sits down with Xen, Head of Marketing & Global Growth at Base, to unpack what it really takes to bring the world on-chain. If you're building in Web3 or just trying to understand where this is all going, this one's for you.Topics covered:🏦 How Xen went from UBS fixed income trader to crypto OG — and why he's been in the space for 10+ years and can't look away🔵 What Base actually is — and how it's positioning itself as the go-to blockchain for global finance (not just another Solana competitor)📈 Base's focus areas: trading, payments & AI agents — including Base NPC, X402 agentic commerce, and what millions in on-chain volume actually looks like🤖 Will AI agents cross the chasm into mainstream? — why being able to transact directly inside ChatGPT or Claude could be the unlock crypto has been waiting for🥃 Real-world asset tokenization done right — the whiskey barrel lending story that perfectly explains DeFi's killer advantage over TradFi🌍 Emerging markets as crypto's first movers — Latin America, Africa, India, and Asia are already running on stablecoins, and Base is doubling down on that🚀 The Base Ecosystem Fund & Base Batches accelerator — what kinds of teams they're backing and what founders should be building right now💡 When does crypto stop being crypto? — Xen and Alex agree: the real win is when nobody's talking about blockchain anymore because they're just using it🔗 Connect with Xen Baynham-Herd: https://www.linkedin.com/in/xen-baynham-herd-01685775/🌐 Explore Base: https://www.linkedin.com/company/coinbase/Show LinksThe Index X ChannelYouTube

The man behind one of Solana's most foundational DeFi protocols finally sits down with us. Michael Hwang, CEO of Orca, breaks down how a protocol that's been quietly powering Solana's liquidity for 5+ years is now stepping into the spotlight — and building infrastructure for the next era of on-chain finance.What we cover:🏦 From BlackRock to Solana — Michael's backstory and why he believes blockchain is building the financial rails of the future🌊 Orca's evolution — How the protocol went from a retail-friendly DEX to the back-end liquidity engine for institutions, RWAs, and hybrid assets🔐 Regulated Asset Infrastructure — Orca's brand-new product that lets asset issuers toggle KYC/compliance controls directly into on-chain liquidity pools🪙 Tokenized Gold, Stocks & RWAs — Why permissioned DeFi isn't a contradiction, and how Orca is building rails for a full spectrum of asset types🤖 Prop AMM research — The internal market-making engine Orca has been quietly running in production (and what it might become)📈 Institutions on Solana — Why "institution" is a spectrum, who's actually ready to step on-chain, and what friction remains🌍 The democratization thesis — Michael's core belief: your grandma LPing alongside a Wall Street quant in the same pool is what makes DeFi worth building🔗 Links: 📺 The Index Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@theindexpodcast 🐦 Michael Hwang (Twitter): https://x.com/tmoClabs 💼 Michael on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mqhwang/ 🌊 Orca: https://www.orca.so/ 🐦 Orca on Twitter: https://x.com/orca_so 💼 Orca on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/orca-so/Show LinksThe Index X ChannelYouTube

What if every hot take you had could instantly become a trade? Jason Rodrigues, Founder of Cesto, is building exactly that on Solana — and it might be the most exciting DeFi product you haven't heard of yet.Cesto lets anyone invest in curated baskets of assets built around ideas, narratives, and trends — from semiconductors and AI to sports teams and geopolitical headlines. In this episode, host Nicki Scans sits down with Jason to explore how Cesto is turning finance into something you actually feel — and how Solana makes it all possible.🔑 Topics Covered:🧠 Finance is editorializing — why more and more money is moving based on vibes, views, and conviction🪣 What is a Cesto basket? — curated bundles of tokens, stocks, and prediction market positions in one click⚡ Speed of execution — how Cesto can launch a basket within 1–5 minutes of a breaking news story📊 Short-term vs. long-term holds — how users are trading narratives, not just assets🤖 The Anthropic Anti-Portfolio — a real-world basket that 3–4x'd by shorting companies Anthropic disrupted🏗️ Why Solana? — speed, culture, community liquidity, and developer ecosystem all in one👥 How Cesto curates experts — from niche Substack writers to Reddit mods, building the next generation of fund managers🌍 What's coming — World Cup baskets, mobile retail, wallet integrations, and institutional-grade liquidity🔗 Links:🎙️ The Index Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@theindexpodcast🌐 Cesto: https://cesto.co/🐦 Cesto on X: https://x.com/cesto_co🐦 Jason on X: https://x.com/jasonrodrigues💼 Jason on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonrrodrigues/Show LinksThe Index X ChannelYouTube

What does it take to build a truly decentralized exchange that can compete with traditional financial markets?In this episode of The Index Podcast, Dhrumil, Co-Founder of Archer Exchange, joins us to discuss why Solana is uniquely positioned to power the next generation of on-chain trading and how Archer is building a fully on-chain order book designed for transparency, efficiency, and deep liquidity.From democratizing market making to creating infrastructure for tokenized real-world assets, Dhrumil shares the vision behind Archer and what it takes to build an exchange that stays true to DeFi principles.Key Topics Covered🚀 Why Dhrumil chose Solana to build Archer📈 How Archer combines the efficiency of modern AMMs with the familiarity of an order book💡 Why market making should be accessible to everyone—not just large institutions🔓 The importance of fully on-chain trading infrastructure🌐 How composability enables developers to build new products on top of Archer🏦 The future of tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) and on-chain markets🔒 Why security and transparency are critical for the next generation of DeFi exchanges📊 Lessons learned from Archer's beta launch and early user growth⚡ Building liquidity, tighter spreads, and better trading experiences on SolanaLinks🔗 The Index Podcast:https://www.youtube.com/@theindexpodcast🔗 Dhrumil (X):https://x.com/mmdhrumil🔗 Archer Exchange:https://archer.exchange/🔗 Archer Exchange (X):https://x.com/ArcherExchange_Show LinksThe Index X ChannelYouTube

What happens when you combine rare whiskey, real-world assets, and Solana?In this episode of The Index Podcast, Alex Kehaya sits down with Tzvi Wiesel, Founder & CEO of Baxus, to explore how one of the most unique RWA platforms in crypto is bringing rare spirits, collectibles, lending, and liquidity fully onchain.From tokenized whiskey bottles and decentralized financing to physical asset authentication and viral whiskey vending machines, Todd shares how Baxus is building the future of collectibles on Solana.What You'll Learn: 🥃 How Baxus is transforming the global whiskey and spirits market with Solana📈 Why rare whiskey behaves like NFTs—but with real-world value🏦 How Baxus is tokenizing whiskey barrels and unlocking DeFi lending opportunities💰 The path to adding $500M+ in new TVL through tokenized barrel infrastructure🔍 How Baxus uses real-world data, sensors, and provenance tracking for asset verification🎰 Inside the new Baxus whiskey vending machine and collectible marketplace experience🌎 Why stablecoins could become a major payment rail for the global alcohol industry🚀 The future of RWAs, collectibles, and tokenized ownership on Solana🔗 Links🎙️ The Index Podcast https://www.youtube.com/@theindexpodcast🥃 Baxus Website https://www.baxus.co/🐦 Baxus on X https://x.com/BAXUSco👤 Tzvi Wiesel (LinkedIn) https://www.linkedin.com/in/todd-wiesel/🐦 Tzvi Wiesel on X https://x.com/web4OShow LinksThe Index X ChannelYouTube

What if you could turn an idea into a live Solana app without writing code?In this episode of The Index Podcast, host Alex Kehaya sits down with Jordan O’Neill, CMO and co-founder of Eitherway, to explore how AI agents are making Web3 app development faster, easier, and more accessible for builders around the world.Jordan breaks down how Eitherway helps users prompt, build, deploy, and monetize production-ready apps across Web2, mobile, and Web3 — with deep integrations across the Solana ecosystem.In this episode, we cover: 🚀 How Eitherway lets users build apps from simple prompts 🧠 Why AI agents are changing the future of software development ⚡ How Eitherway integrates Solana infrastructure like Jupiter, Meteora, Raydium, Kamino, Solflare, DFlow, and more 🌍 Why emerging markets are a major focus for Web3 payments and USDC adoption 🛠️ What builders created during Eitherway’s Superteam hackathon 📲 How Eitherway’s Telegram agent can build apps directly from chat 🔮 What’s next for Eitherway, including open-source agent frameworks and new product upgradesLinks: Jordan O’Neill on X: https://x.com/Depin_Dexter Eitherway on X: https://x.com/EitherwayAI Eitherway App: https://eitherway.ai/chatShow LinksThe Index X ChannelYouTube

What does it take to build the best perps trading experience on Solana?In this episode of The Index Podcast, Alex Kehaya sits down with Hunter Simmons, CTO & Co-Founder, and Jordan Prince, CEO & Co-Founder, of Imperial Perps to unpack why Solana perps are evolving fast, what traders actually need, and how Imperial is building a clearer, more transparent trading experience for the next wave of onchain users.From fee transparency to better routing, liquidation risk, UX, and the “seek truth” mindset behind great products, this conversation breaks down where Solana DeFi is heading — without the jargon.In this episode:🚀 Why Imperial Perps is building exclusively on Solana📈 What perpetual contracts are — and why traders love them⚡ The current state of Solana perps vs. Hyperliquid and centralized exchanges💸 Why fees, slippage, and liquidation risk matter more than most users realize🧠 How Imperial routes traders toward better execution and clearer PnL🛠️ The founder mindset: seeking truth, product-market fit, and building through hard cycles🌐 Why the next 6–12 months could be huge for Solana perpsLinks:The Index Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@theindexpodcastImperial Perps Website: https://imperial.spaceImperial Perps on X: https://x.com/ImperialPerpsHunter Simmons on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hunter-simmons1Hunter Simmons on X: https://x.com/ImperialAttilaJordan Prince on X: https://x.com/redacted_jShow LinksThe Index X ChannelYouTube

AI agents are coming on-chain — and Clawpump wants Solana to be their home base. In this episode of The Index Podcast, Nicky Scanella sits down with Bunny, Mauricio Trujillo Ramirez, co-founder of Clawpump and Tektonic, to unpack how autonomous AI agents could trade, earn, pay for compute, and interact with DeFi in real time.From “eternal agents” to x402, Solana speed, and the future of agentic finance, this conversation breaks down one of the most exciting intersections in Web3: AI x crypto.In this episode, we cover: 🤖 What Clawpump is building as the “House of Agentic Finance” on Solana ⚡ Why Solana is becoming a key ecosystem for AI agents and on-chain automation 💸 How agents can earn money, pay for compute, and interact with DeFi 🔁 What x402 actually means — and why it matters for crypto users and developers 🏦 The difference between Clawpump’s retail focus and Tektonic’s institutional infrastructure 📈 Agentic trading, arbitrage, prediction markets, and the future of on-chain finance 🧠 Why AI agents won’t replace every app, wallet, or human experienceLinks: The Index Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@theindexpodcast Clawpump Website: https://www.clawpump.tech/ Clawpump on X: https://x.com/clawpumptech Tektonic Website: https://tektonic.company/ Bunny / Mauricio on X: https://x.com/ConejoCapitalShow LinksThe Index X ChannelYouTube

What if markets — not committees — made the big decisions behind crypto fundraising?In this episode of The Index Podcast, Alex Kehaya sits down with Proph3t, co-founder of MetaDAO, to unpack how Solana-native fundraising is evolving, why token launches are being reimagined, and how decision markets could reshape how founders raise, govern, and scale.In this episode, we cover:🚀 How MetaDAO is changing internet-native fundraising on Solana🧠 What decision markets are — and why they matter💰 Why post-raise treasury oversight could reduce rugs and misaligned incentives⚖️ The real trade-offs of launching a token vs. raising traditional venture capital🔥 Why community ownership can supercharge distribution🛠️ How founders should think about “token or no token”🌍 The long-term vision for market-driven decision-makingLinks:🎙️ The Index Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@theindexpodcast👤 Proph3t on X: https://x.com/metaproph3t🏢 MetaDAO on X: https://x.com/MetaDAOProject🌐 MetaDAO Website: https://www.metadao.fi/Show LinksThe Index X ChannelYouTube

Crypto adoption isn’t just about better tech… it’s about better culture.In this episode, John Wilson & Amol Gharte, cofounders of Solana Spaces, break down how real-world experiences are onboarding the next wave of Web3 users.From viral pop-ups to global community building, this is what happens when crypto steps out of the screen and into real life.🚀 In this episode, we cover:🏬 How Solana Spaces reinvented crypto retail through pop-ups and global experiences🌍 Why culture > technology when it comes to mass adoption🎉 Inside their legendary NYC pop-up that turned into a street-level crypto party🧠 The Apple Store strategy behind onboarding users into Web3🛍️ Why most crypto merch fails—and how to build real brand affinity📊 How they measure ROI, conversions, and real-world engagement🔥 Wild activation ideas: crypto tattoos, prediction games, and more🧩 The future: marketplaces, consulting, and scaling beyond Solana events🔗 Follow & learn more:🎙️ The Index Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@theindexpodcast🧑‍💻 John Wilson (X): https://x.com/DegentlemanJohn🧑‍💻 Amol Gharte (X): https://x.com/0xAmol🏢 Solana Spaces: https://solanaspaces.com/🐦 Solana Spaces (X): https://x.com/solanaspacesShow LinksThe Index X ChannelYouTube

What if you could launch a full Solana application just by describing your idea in plain English? Amit Ishairzay and Bilal Shahid, co-founders of Poof (poof.new), are building exactly that — and it's already live.From prediction markets to token escrows to DePIN apps for cleaning up dog poop (yes, really), builders are shipping on-chain products faster than ever. Here's how they're doing it.In this episode:🛠️ What Poof actually is — type your idea, get a deployed Solana app with smart contracts, indexing, frontend, and backend🔐 The "Poof Policy" system — the AI-native schema that makes smart contract generation secure and auditable⚡ Why Solana? — and how Poof is to Web3 what Firebase/Supabase is to Web2🤖 AI + Crypto infrastructure — how the team uses Claude Code, Codex, and auto-routing between models to keep costs down🧪 The wildest apps people have built — from pump.fun clones to hyper-personalized all-in-one trading terminals👾 Agentic Poof — what happens when no human is in the loop and an agent is shipping apps autonomously🔓 The open source debate — how AI is reshaping the risk calculus for open source projects🧠 Mythos (Anthropic's unreleased model) — what a model too dangerous to release means for the future of software security🔗 LINKSThe Index Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@theindexpodcastPoof: https://poof.newAmit (X): https://x.com/legitamit  Bilal (X): https://x.com/BSha256  Show LinksThe Index X ChannelYouTube

What if ripping open Pokémon packs as a kid was actually your billion-dollar origin story? Jake, Co-Founder of Phygitals, built a $180M on-chain trading card marketplace on Solana,  bootstrapped, shot down by 7 VCs, and still winning. This one hits different. In this episode, we cover:🃏 What Phygitals actually is — a tokenized collectibles marketplace where physical cards live in vaults and trade at the speed of blockchain 🔐 The vault system — how PSA, Fanatics, and Alt Vault secure the physical cards behind every NFT 💸 The 92% instant buyback model — why it works and how they make money on the delta 🚀 Building on Solana — why the culture, community, and bootstrapping power of Solana made it the only choice 📦 From $4K in Pokémon cards to $180M in volume — the scrappy GTM that started with an airdrop and a $1 claw machine 😤 Getting roasted by 7 VCs — and why Jake used it as fuel 🌐 60% Web2 users — how Stripe + CoinFlow made crypto-native rails accessible to non-crypto collectors 🏪 The B2B infrastructure play — deployable storefronts and API layers for card shops and major brands 💬 USDC as the future of collectibles payments — solving the ACH settlement nightmare in high-value auctions🔗 LINKS🐦 Jake / Mr. Colada on X: https://x.com/coladacodes 🐦 Phygitals on X: https://x.com/phygitals 🌐 Phygitals Website: https://phygitals.com 📺 The Index Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@theindexpodcastShow LinksThe Index X ChannelYouTube

Most DeFi protocols are one hack away from collapse. Plish is building Hylo differently — and in this episode, he breaks down exactly why.From winning the Colosseum Radar Hackathon to crossing $100M TVL, Hylo is rewriting the rules of decentralized stablecoins on Solana. No external dependencies. No borrowed risk. Just battle-tested code.What we cover:🧱 What is Hylo? — A DeFi platform issuing a yield-bearing stablecoin (HiUSD) and a leveraged SOL ETF (xSOL), built entirely on-chain with zero external protocol dependencies⚠️ What Solana DeFi is getting wrong — Why composability is both DeFi's superpower and its biggest security liability (and the Drift hack as a live case study)🔐 The self-custody gospel — Why Plish keeps it simple: stake your SOL, stay in control, and never full-port into someone else's smart contract risk🤖 Running a 4-person team with AI agents — How Hylo uses Claude, Granola, and a custom hiring system based on the Who framework to punch way above their weight🚀 Hylo V2 is coming — xBTC, new collateral types (RWAs, yield-bearing dollars, maybe even S&P 500-backed stablecoins), and a new UI with stop losses and DCA tools📉 The leverage problem nobody talks about — Why 50x perps are dangerous for retail, and why Hylo's managed 2–4x xAssets might be the smarter play🔗 LINKS🎙️ The Index Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@theindexpodcast 🐦 Plish on X: https://x.com/0xPlish 🐦 Hylo on X: https://x.com/hylo_so 🌐 Hylo Website: https://hylo.so/Show LinksThe Index X ChannelYouTube

What does it take to build the most trusted wallet in the Solana ecosystem and keep it that way?What happens when every trade you make on-chain is public — and your friends start copy-trading you without asking? That's what pushed Kru Shah to build Umbra, the first live app on Arcium's Mainnet Alpha, and he's here to break down exactly how confidential compute is about to change everything on Solana.In this episode: 🧱 What Arcium actually is — the confidential compute engine powering Umbra (and why it matters beyond DeFi) 🔄 How private swaps work on Umbra — and why 7 seconds of latency is a trade-off worth making ⚖️ Privacy vs. regulation — Kru's take on Tornado Cash, Roman Storm, and the case for privacy as a human right 📣 The Elizabeth Warren challenge — Kru's 30-second answer to crypto's biggest privacy skeptic 💸 Raising on MetaDAO / Futarchy — how Umbra got $155M in commitments and only took $3M 🪙 Ownership tokens vs. meme coin culture — why token holders need to earn their seat at the table 🤝 Building alongside Arcium — why this relationship is unlike any typical "app built on infrastructure"🔗 LINKS🎙️ The Index Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@theindexpodcast 🏢 Umbra Website: https://www.umbraprivacy.com/ 🐦 Umbra on X: https://x.com/UmbraPrivacyShow LinksThe Index X ChannelYouTube

Animoca Brands co-founder Yat Siu sits down with host Alex Kehaya to talk about digital ownership, the agentic economy, and why everything we built in Web3 was secretly a proof of concept for what's coming next. This one hits differently.Alex shares how Nansen went all-in on agentic AI, deploying 75 OpenClaws across their entire team, building shared skill repositories, and pioneering what he calls "claw fooding" — getting AI agents to test and fix their own product. We also get deep into agentic trading, Nansen's new CLI that lets your AI agent trade on-chain, and why Alex believes the traditional trading interface is dead.🔑 Key Topics Covered:🌐 Digital property rights & the case for true ownership — why most people are living in "rented space" online and what blockchain actually fixes🤖 The agentic economy is here — from 3–5 agents per person to potentially hundreds of billions roaming the open web💸 Agents need wallets — how crypto rails (payments, identity, wallets) are the perfect infrastructure for AI agents to transact freely🧠 Animoca Minds deep dive — how it deploys persistent agents in under 60 seconds, with shared infrastructure, long-term memory, and a skills marketplace⛓️ Why Solana's builder culture mattered — and how purpose-driven communities created ecosystems that survived the hardest moments🏗️ Orchestration vs LLMs — why the real value isn't which model you pick, but how you harness and own your agents🔓 Open source super intelligence as a human right — the stakes of letting a handful of companies own AGI, and how crypto + open source can counter that🌏 The cultural gap between AI and crypto — why Asia gets it and what the West needs to catch up on📌 Connect & Follow:🎙️ The Index Podcast:https://www.youtube.com/@theindexpodcast 👤 Yat Siu on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yatsiu 🐦 Yat Siu on X: https://x.com/ysiu 🏢 Animoca Brands: https://www.animocabrands.com 🐦 Animoca Brands on X: https://x.com/animocabrandsShow LinksThe Index X ChannelYouTube

What if the real crypto opportunity isn't in Silicon Valley but in cargo ports, agricultural corridors, and emerging markets that Wall Street ignores? Arnold Lee moved there to find out.Arnold is the co-founder & CEO of Sphere Labs, building stablecoin payment infrastructure on Solana for the markets that need it most. This conversation goes deep.In this episode:🎲 How Sphere Labs was born from a random Solana x Stripe hackathon submission — and why they almost didn't enter💥 Incorporating the company the week FTX collapsed (with two co-founders celebrating birthdays that day)🌎 Why Arnold lived functionally homeless for 4 years, moving across Latin America to build closer to real users📦 The cargo port moment — understanding payment friction by watching shipments sit idle at port for weeks💵 Why people in emerging markets don't really want "stablecoins" — they want access to stable dollars⏳ The closing window: why stablecoins and cross-border payments are a race against the AI divide🤖 The AI access gap — and why a $200/month Claude subscription is out of reach for billions of people📡 How blockchain "agnosticizes" where investment capital can flow — unlocking markets that traditional FinTech ignores🚀 What's next for Sphere: faster, cheaper, multi-currency rails across LATAM, MENA, and APAC🏗️ Why AI infrastructure spending (data centers, energy, commodities) is driving new stablecoin order flow🔗 LINKS🎙️ The Index Podcast → https://www.youtube.com/@theindexpodcast 👤 Arnold Lee on LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/arnoldhlee/ 🐦 Arnold Lee on X → https://x.com/0xdirichlet 🌐 Sphere Labs → https://spherepay.co 🐦 Sphere Labs on X → https://x.com/sphere_labs 💼 Sphere Labs on LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/company/sphere-laboratories/ 📲 Sphere RAMP → https://spherepay.co/rampShow LinksThe Index X ChannelYouTube

What We Cover:🚀 What is Nomadz? — A crypto-friendly travel aggregator on Solana with access to 30+ booking APIs💸 Why stablecoin payments matter — Save up to 5–6% vs. traditional payment rails like Stripe📱 Solana Seeker & the DAP Store — Why mobile is the key to onboarding the next wave of Web3 users🎮 Gamification that actually works — Nomad ID, XP, NFT suitcases, quests, and why it's leagues ahead of legacy loyalty programs🌐 Web3 users > Web2 users — Why Ivan isn't chasing the mass market (and why that's the right call)🏆 Revenue before token — The refreshing philosophy behind Nomadz's long-term approach to building🇺🇦 A personal story — How the war in Ukraine turned Ivan into a digital nomad and sparked the idea for Nomadz🔮 The vision — Flights, eSIMs, visas, B2B travel management, and a full Web3 travel stack🔗 Links:🎙️ The Index Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@theindexpodcast👤 Ivan Maltsev on X: https://x.com/ivan_nomadz👤 Ivan Maltsev on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ivanxmaltsev/🏢 Nomadz on X: https://x.com/NOMADZxyz🏢 Nomadz on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nomadzxyz/posts/?feedView=all🌐 Nomadz Platform: https://nomadz.xyzShow LinksThe Index X ChannelYouTube

What happens when a company has more AI agents than human employees? Nansen CEO Alex Svanevik joins The Index to break down exactly that and a whole lot more.Alex shares how Nansen went all-in on agentic AI, deploying 75 OpenClaws across their entire team, building shared skill repositories, and pioneering what he calls "claw fooding", getting AI agents to test and fix their own product. We also get deep into agentic trading, Nansen's new CLI that lets your AI agent trade on-chain, and why Alex believes the traditional trading interface is dead.In this episode:🤖 How Nansen runs more AI agents than humans — and what that actually looks like day-to-day🔐 Security, governance & trust ladders for autonomous AI agents managing real money⚡ "Vibe trading" — talking to an AI to execute on-chain trades with one tap🛠️ The Nansen CLI: give your OpenClaude eyes on-chain (Solana, Base & more)📈 Why prediction markets are the biggest low-hanging fruit for agentic AI right now🧠 Fine-tuning open-source LLMs for on-chain trading — and why it matters💸 Token costs, spend control, and how to scale an AI-native organization without burning money🔮 The roadmap to fully autonomous, hosted agentic tradingWhether you're a crypto trader, an AI builder, or a founder trying to figure out how to make your company AI-native — this episode is required watching.🔗 Try the Nansen AI App: nansen.ai Show LinksThe Index X ChannelYouTube

What does it take to build the most trusted wallet in the Solana ecosystem and keep it that way?In this episode, Nicky sits down with Filip Dragoslavić, Co-Founder & Co-CEO of Solflare, to talk about everything from the early days of Solana (think: 20 people in a Discord server with Anatoly answering every question himself) to what crypto wallets will look like in 2028 and beyond.Filip pulls back the curtain on how Solflare went from a simple staking tool to a full-blown super app, and why 40% of their users never even leave the wallet to interact with outside apps. They also dive deep into some of Solflare's most exciting bets:🛡️ Solflare Shield — a screenless, battery-free hardware wallet that rethinks cold storage from the ground up. Same security. A fraction of the price. Just tap your phone.🔏 PAL (Privacy Aggregation Layer) — Solflare's new privacy toggle that lets users send transactions without exposing their address — and why this matters way more than most people realize (spoiler: crypto was never as private as the media claimed).🤖 Agentic Payments — Why Solana is the only network capable of being the default payment rail for AI agents, and why Filip believes humans will always remain the ultimate decision-makers.Plus: the Ethereum vs. Solana builder culture debate, the real reason privacy in crypto is so hard to solve, and how Solflare is quietly stripping away jargon to bring the next wave of users onboard.Whether you're a DeFi degen, a crypto newcomer, or just obsessed with where Web3 is heading — this one's packed.🔗 LINKS🌐 Solflare: https://www.solflare.com/🛡️ Solflare Shield: https://solflare.com/hardware-wallet💼 Filip Dragoslavić on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/filip-dragoslavic📺 The Index Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@theindexpodcastShow LinksThe Index X ChannelYouTube

What if your paycheck went straight into crypto, and you never had to sell to cover your expenses? Diego García, co-founder & CEO of Pyra (pyra.finance), is building exactly that on Solana. This one will make you rethink how you build wealth.In this episode, we cover:💸 What Pyra actually does — invest your income into assets, spend via credit, and never touch your portfolio📈 The "spread" model explained — why the gap between yield and credit cost is everything⚡ Why Solana? — DeFi ecosystem, speed, cost, and the wave of tokenized real-world assets🏦 How this is different from a margin account — higher LTV ratios, micro-credit pulls, and built for wealth builders, not just the ultra-rich🎰 Filling the gap between boring savings and crypto gambling — why Gen Z deserves better options🔒 Self-custody + KYC explained — what's permissionless and what isn't⚠️ The risk engine — stop losses, liquidation warnings, and portfolio diversification automation🌍 What's next — tokenized equities, broader market expansion, and moving beyond crypto-native users🔗 LINKS🎙️ The Index Podcast → https://www.youtube.com/@theindexpodcast👤 Diego García on LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/diego-garcia-na/ 🏢 Pyra → https://www.pyra.fi/Show LinksThe Index X ChannelYouTube

What happens when AI agents can own wallets, spend money, and interact with the internet autonomously?In this episode of The Index Podcast, host Alex Kehaya sits down with Alfonso Gómez, Founder & CEO of Crossmint, to explore the emerging world of agentic commerce, AI-driven payments, and blockchain infrastructure built for the programmatic economy.Alfonso shares how Crossmint is building tools that make blockchain adoption as easy as integrating an API, enabling companies to add wallets, payments, and digital assets directly into real-world applications.The conversation dives into the future of AI agents with spending power, the role of stablecoins and card networks, and how new technologies could transform the way software interacts with money.You’ll also hear fascinating stories from Alfonso’s career, from helping design Google’s “I’m not a robot” CAPTCHA to shaping messaging infrastructure at WhatsApp, before founding Crossmint to power the next generation of internet payments.🚀 Topics covered include:Why the world is moving toward a programmatic economyHow AI agents will pay for tools, compute, and servicesCrossmint’s vision for agentic payments and digital asset infrastructureStablecoins vs credit cards: what will dominate AI commerce?The future of autonomous transactions powered by Solana and blockchainIf you're interested in AI agents, Solana, stablecoins, developer infrastructure, and the future of digital payments, this episode is a must-watch.🔗 Learn more about Crossmint: https://www.crossmint.com🎙️ More episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@theindexpodcastShow LinksThe Index X ChannelYouTube

What happens when AI meets the Solana ecosystem?In this episode of The Index Podcast, Alex Kehaya sits down with Ben Coverston, founder of Harmonic, to explore how artificial intelligence is transforming how startups are built, analyzed, and funded in the crypto space.Ben shares insights into how Harmonic is using AI to map the global startup ecosystem, identify emerging trends, and help investors and builders understand where innovation is happening fastest — including within the Solana ecosystem.The conversation dives into the intersection of AI, venture capital, crypto infrastructure, and data intelligence, and what it means for founders building the next generation of Web3 companies.If you're interested in AI-driven investing, startup intelligence, and the future of Solana, this episode is a must-watch.🔥 In this episode we discuss:How Harmonic uses AI to analyze startups and ecosystemsThe role of data intelligence in venture investingWhy Solana continues to attract builders and innovationHow AI will reshape startup discovery and due diligenceThe future of crypto entrepreneurship🔎 For more information:HarmonicX: https://x.com/harmonic_ggWebsite:https://harmonic.gg/  Ben CovertsonX:https://x.com/HypoNyms LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-coverston/  Show LinksThe Index X ChannelYouTube

How do you bring digital finance to hundreds of millions of users inside one of the world’s largest messaging platforms?In this episode of The Index Podcast, host Alex Kehaya sits down with Irina Chuchkina, Chief Growth Officer at Wallet in Telegram, to explore how a crypto wallet integrated directly into Telegram is unlocking financial access for users around the world.Irina shares how Wallet in Telegram has already reached over 100 million users, and how stable digital dollars are helping people in high-inflation economies save, send, and spend money more easily. The conversation also dives into the growing Telegram economy, where wallets are powering payments across mini apps, creator channels, marketplaces, and digital services.They also discuss: • Why stablecoins are becoming essential in emerging markets • The rise of economic activity inside Telegram’s ecosystem • Tokenized assets like stocks and ETFs becoming accessible globally • How messaging apps are evolving into financial platforms • The future of wallets, payments, and digital economiesWallet in Telegram aims to expand financial access to up to 1 billion Telegram users, making everyday digital finance as simple as sending a message.🔎 Explore Wallet in TelegramDiscover how Wallet is bringing crypto directly into Telegram and making digital assets accessible to millions of users worldwide.• X (Twitter): https://x.com/wallet_tg• Telegram: https://t.me/wallet👤 About the Guest – Irina ChuchkinaIrina Chuchkina shares insights on the evolution of Wallet in Telegram and how embedded crypto experiences are shaping the future of onboarding in Web3.• X (Twitter): https://x.com/pogodasuper• LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/irinachuchkinaShow LinksThe Index X ChannelYouTube

Why is Solana becoming the home for real on-chain governance?In this episode of The Index, Dean Pappas (Director of Realms) explains how Solana’s speed, low fees, and native transaction execution make it uniquely suited for scalable, programmable DAOs.We cover:• Why most DAOs fail — and how Solana fixes it • On-chain proposal execution vs. off-chain promises • The “Thanos Test” for true decentralization • Optimistic governance and fast decision-making • How Realms powers major Solana protocolsSolana isn’t just built for DeFi and NFTs — it’s built for coordination at scale. And Realms is turning governance into a competitive advantage.🔎 For more information:RealmsX: https://x.com/realmsDAOs Website:https://realms.today/  Dean PappasX:https://x.com/_dean_machine LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pappasdean/?originalSubdomain=gr Show LinksThe Index X ChannelYouTube

In this episode of The Index Podcast, we sit down with Yash Agarwal, CEO of SendAI, to explore why Solana could become the financial layer for AI agents and how autonomous commerce is closer than we think.From launching the Solana Agent Kit (now one of the most widely used AI agent toolkits in crypto) to building an omni-distribution AI trading platform, Yash breaks down how SendAI is creating the tooling layer that enables AI agents to read, write, and transact directly on-chain.🧠 What You’ll Learn in This Episode:Why “crypto was built for AI” might actually be trueHow AI agents can execute complex financial strategies across Solana protocolsThe real bottlenecks preventing fully autonomous commerceWhy latency and deterministic settlement make Solana ideal for agentsHow SendAI evolved from open-source tooling to a full-stack AI trading interfaceThe security challenges of giving AI access to walletsWhy SaaS isn’t dead but is being radically transformedThe future of generative financial instrumentsIf you're bullish on:AI agentsAutonomous financeSolana infrastructureThe convergence of crypto and machine intelligenceThis episode is for you.🎧 Listen now and discover how AI + Solana could redefine commerce.Show LinksThe Index X ChannelYouTube

Is gold about to become the most important asset on Solana?In this episode of The Index Podcast, host Nicky Scannella sits down with Usman Saleem, Founder of ORO, to explore how tokenized gold is evolving from a passive store of value into a productive, yield-bearing on-chain asset.With 100+ years of family history in the gold business, Usman brings a rare perspective to crypto bridging traditional gold markets with DeFi infrastructure. ORO isn’t just “tokenizing gold.” It’s building digital gold rails for the internet on Solana.We cover:Why simply mirroring spot price isn’t enough for tokenized goldHow ORO generates real yield (including gold leasing)Why gold may outperform stablecoins as a savings assetBorrowing against gold at 10% instead of 30–40%The institutional unlock for $6–7 trillion in vaulted goldWhy Solana was the ideal ecosystem to launch OROWhat a mature tokenized gold DeFi ecosystem looks like in 5 yearsAs inflation erodes fiat and global markets shift, major institutions are increasing gold allocations. The question is no longer “Should gold be on-chain?” it’s “Why isn’t all gold digital yet?”If you care about DeFi, RWAs, stablecoins, or the future of capital markets on Solana, this episode is a must-watch.🔎 For more information:OROX: https://x.com/orogoldapp Website:https://www.oro.finance/Usman Saleem X: https://x.com/theusmansal/mediaShow LinksThe Index X ChannelYouTube

What happens when most of the internet is no longer human?In this episode of The Index Podcast, Nicky Scannella sits down with Zach Meltzer, Founder of VeryAI, to explore the future of identity, AI agents, and trust in an increasingly synthetic world. As AI-generated content accelerates and autonomous agents begin managing wallets and transacting on-chain, the question becomes urgent: How do we prove what’s real?Zach introduces the concept of “Proof of Reality”, combining privacy-preserving biometrics with AI deepfake detection to verify both the human and the content behind every digital interaction. The conversation dives into proof of personhood, the rise of “Know Your Agent (KYA),” the coming explosion of AI-driven transactions, and why crypto infrastructure, particularly Solana, is uniquely positioned to scale identity solutions to billions of users.If over 50% of online content is already synthetic, what happens when that number hits 90%? And could crypto have been built for AI agents all along?This episode explores the intersection of AI, blockchain, and the future of digital trust.🔎 For more information:VeryAIX: https://x.com/VeryAIWebsite: https://very.org/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/veryai/Zach MeltzerX: https://x.com/itszachLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zacharymeltzer/Show LinksThe Index X ChannelYouTube

Who really gets access to the best opportunities in crypto? 🤔In this episode of The Index Podcast, Alex Kehaya sits down with Fabrizio, co-founder of Legion, to unpack one of the biggest issues in the ecosystem: unequal access to early-stage deals.From a deeply personal story shaped by lack of opportunity, Fabrizio explains why Legion is building a merit-based fundraising model, powered by on-chain reputation, transparency, and regulatory compliance. We dive into:Who actually wins (and loses) in today’s token launchesWhy TGEs are broken and how they’re often gamedRetail vs VCs: myths, realities, and risksHow to reduce information asymmetry in cryptoThe role of Solana, DEXs, and exchanges like Kraken in fairer token distributionAn honest conversation about capital, access, incentives, and what a more equitable future for crypto fundraising could look like.For more information about Legion and their approach to merit-based, compliant crypto fundraising, visit their website and follow them on X:🔗 Website: https://legion.cc🐦 X (Twitter): https://x.com/legiondotccShow LinksThe Index X ChannelYouTube

What happens when real-world assets go fully on-chain with instant, 24/7 liquidity on Solana?In this episode of The Index Podcast, Alex Kehaya is joined by Will Beeson, Founder & CEO of Uniform Labs, to break down why liquidity is the missing piece holding back tokenized real-world assets, and how Solana is becoming the leading chain to solve it.Will shares his journey from building fintech banks and working inside global institutions like Standard Chartered, to launching infrastructure that connects TradFi and DeFi through instant settlement and institutional-grade liquidity.In this conversation, we cover:Why liquidity is the existential challenge for RWAsHow 24/7 instant settlement on Solana unlocks new financial primitivesUniform Labs’ MultiLiquid protocol and its partnership with MetalayerTokenized money market funds, private credit, and DeFi vaultsWhy institutions are actively building on SolanaThe paradigm shift from holding cash to holding always-on yieldIf you’re interested in Solana, RWAs, institutional crypto, or the future of financial infrastructure, this episode is for you.For more information:Learn more about Uniform Labs and follow the conversation directly from the source:Uniform Labs website: https://www.uniformlabs.co/ Will Beeson on X: https://x.com/will_beeson?lang=en Team & ecosystem updates on X: https://x.com/multiliquid_xyz Show LinksThe Index X ChannelYouTube

In this episode of The Index Podcast, Alex Kehaya sits down with Manish Dutta, Founder & CEO of Alpha Ledger, to unpack what it really takes to bring financial markets on-chain, the right way.Alpha Ledger is building regulated infrastructure that allows real-world assets (RWAs), equities, treasuries, and private credit to move on-chain with compliance, programmability, and real ownership at the core. This isn’t about hype or speculation, it’s about upgrading decades-old financial rails and unlocking global, 24/7 access to capital markets.In this conversation, we dive into:Why tokenization isn’t a crypto trend, but a financial infrastructure upgradeThe critical difference between narrative tokenization vs. real asset ownershipWhy broker-dealers, transfer agents, and regulation matter on-chainHow digital asset treasuries and on-chain origination are reshaping capital formationWhy Solana is emerging as a serious layer for regulated financial assetsWhat happens when tokenization becomes boring and why that’s the real winThis episode is a must-watch for founders building in crypto, institutions exploring RWAs, and anyone trying to understand how TradFi and on-chain finance are finally converging.For more information:Learn more about Alpha Ledger and follow the conversation directly from the source:Alpha Ledger website: https://www.alphaledger.com/Manish Dutta on X: https://x.com/dutta_manish?s=20Team & ecosystem updates on X: https://x.com/OmitowojuP?s=20Show LinksThe Index X ChannelYouTube

What if staking wasn’t just a passive yield strategy, but a fully tradable, financialized market?In this episode of The Index Podcast, host Nicky Scanz sits down with Eric Ashdown, Co-Founder of Pye Finance, to explore the next evolution of staking on Solana: stake trading.Eric breaks down how Pye Finance is unlocking liquidity from locked SOL and future staking rewards, turning Solana staking into what he calls an internet-native commodity market. Drawing parallels to oil, commodities trading, and traditional financial markets, the conversation dives deep into why staking is entering its financialization era and why this shift is inevitable.We cover everything from:Why Solana’s validator ecosystem is stronger because it’s hard to runHow stake trading can help professional validators survive the “race to zero”What new strategies open up when principal and yield are separatedWhy trust, relationships, and reputation matter more than ever in stakingAnd how Pye Finance could reshape incentives for validators, stakers, and institutions alikeIf you’re a validator, staker, DeFi builder, or long-term Solana believer, this episode offers a rare, unfiltered look at where Solana staking and on-chain capital markets are headed next.To learn more about Pye Finance and how the protocol is building stake trading and on-chain capital markets on Solana, visit their official website at https://pye.fi/. You can also follow them on X for the latest updates, product announcements, and ecosystem insights.Show LinksThe Index X ChannelYouTube

What does it really take to build and scale on Solana in 2026?In this episode of The Index Podcast, Alex Kehaya and Nicky Scanz sit down with Vibhu Norby, serial entrepreneur and member of the Solana Foundation, for a wide-ranging conversation on distribution, startup psychology, and Solana’s biggest strategic battles ahead.Vibhu breaks down why “distribution is the product” and why no feature will ever fix a distribution problem. Drawing from years of building, shipping, and engaging directly with users, he shares hard-earned lessons for founders on go-to-market strategy, community building, and avoiding feature creep in an era of AI-assisted development.The conversation also dives deep into Solana’s current challenges and priorities: from perps, RWAs, and payments, to global competition, regional adoption, and why Solana can’t afford to take a single month off. Vibhu outlines why 2026 is the year of assets, and how the ecosystem is working toward making Solana the best place in the world to trade, build, and scale real-world financial infrastructure.If you’re a founder, builder, or operator navigating Web3, this episode offers a rare, candid look into how the Solana Foundation thinks about growth, risk, and long-term execution, straight from someone in the arena.For more information on Solana’s ecosystem, initiatives, and global development efforts, visit the Solana Foundation website athttps://solana.org. There you’ll find resources for builders, updates on ecosystem priorities, and insights into how Solana is scaling on-chain infrastructure worldwide.Show LinksThe Index X ChannelYouTube

What powers the fastest-growing blockchain oracle—and why is real-time, AI-ready data now mission-critical for DeFi? In this episode of The Index, host Alex Kehaya sits down with Marcin Kaźmierczak, Co-founder of RedStone, the fastest-growing oracle network in web3. Together, they unpack how RedStone is redefining what on-chain data can do—for DeFi protocols, institutional finance, and AI agents alike.When a single bad tick can destroy an entire strategy, “good enough” data just won’t cut it. RedStone is building the next-gen oracle layer: low-latency, manipulation-resistant price feeds that move at Solana speed, span multiple chains, and empower everything from loans and perps to tokenized treasuries and real-world assets.We explore RedStone’s acquisition of Credora, a DeFi ratings platform that turns protocol complexity into clean, institutional-grade risk signals. Because behind every juicy APR is a deeper truth—governance dynamics, multisig vulnerabilities, oracle exposure. Ratings help users choose risk on purpose, while giving institutions the audit-ready insights they need.And as AI agents begin to analyze markets, make trades, and interact with smart contracts, verifiable data isn’t just helpful—it’s an AI safety layer. We dive into how RedStone’s architecture supports AI-native finance, from model training to real-time validation, all with MEV-aware design baked in.Whether you’re building in DeFi, deploying capital, or experimenting with AI, this is a deep dive into the composable, verifiable, high-performance data layer powering the next era of web3.Enjoy the episode? Follow The Index, leave a review, and share it with someone building the future.Website: https://www.redstone.finance/Show LinksThe Index X ChannelYouTube

What happens when blockchain technology moves beyond finance to reshape the physical world around us? In this episode of The Index, host Alex Kehaya sits down with Amira Valliani, Head of DePIN at the Solana Foundation we explore the revolutionary potential of Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks and their impact on everything from telecommunications to satellite tracking.Amira's journey from the Obama White House to crypto advocacy offers a unique perspective on bridging the worlds of policy and blockchain innovation. What started as a simple "crypto week" to become conversant at dinner parties blossomed into a three-year mission to help policymakers understand the technology's potential while helping builders navigate Washington's complex landscape.The conversation takes us deep into the world of DePIN projects transforming multiple industries. We discover how GeoNet provides centimeter-precise mapping for agricultural applications, disrupting monopolistic players like John Deere who charge farmers tens of thousands annually for similar services. We explore companies deploying robots through gaming competitions to collect valuable environmental data for future autonomous systems. Perhaps most intriguingly, we learn about "Space DePIN" projects creating decentralized networks for tracking the rapidly growing constellation of satellites orbiting our planet.Beyond the technical innovations, Amira shares valuable insights about engaging with policymakers in Washington DC. She challenges the crypto community to move beyond skepticism and actually visit the Capitol, where they'll find many legislators genuinely curious about blockchain's potential. As she notes, the divide on crypto policy is "much more generational than partisan," with bipartisan support growing as more officials understand the technology's practical applications.If you’re a dev working in Web3, exploring DePIN, or building real-world applications on Solana, this conversation offers insight into where the space is headed—and what still stands in its way.Website: https://solana.com/Show LinksThe Index X ChannelYouTube

What is the future of Bitcoin wealth? This week on The Index, Alex Kehaya sits down with Joe Kelly, CEO of Unchained, to explore the rise of a Bitcoin-focused financial services company built on self-sovereignty.From pioneering Bitcoin-backed loans to securing over 100,000 BTC as a full-suite wealth management platform, Kelly shares how Unchained grew into a 140-person team while staying true to core Bitcoin values.At the heart of their model is collaborative custody. Unlike traditional custodians, Unchained’s multi-signature approach gives clients two keys, while the company holds just one—allowing access to loans and IRAs without giving up control. After the collapse of FTX, this model gained serious traction as a safer, more aligned alternative.Kelly opens up about balancing Bitcoin ideals with business realities, building products that satisfy both regulators and sovereignty-minded clients. The conversation also dives into Unchained’s Bitcoin IRA, which blends tax compliance with key control—something never before possible in retirement accounts.You’ll also hear about Unchained’s Legacy Project, which supports education, development, and philanthropy in the Bitcoin ecosystem. As ETFs and institutions move in, Unchained keeps its sights set on empowering individual holders to truly own their financial future.Learn more at https://www.unchained.com/Show LinksThe Index X ChannelYouTube